


Sunshine

by potentiality_26



Category: Sanditon (TV 2019)
Genre: F/F, Ficlet, Past Relationship(s), Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22959511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiality_26/pseuds/potentiality_26
Summary: Georgiana’s smiles were rarer than they once were, and they had never been too common, but they had an extraordinary power to clear away Charlotte’s melancholy nevertheless.  Her smiles were not only for Charlotte, of course- they pulled reluctantly at her lips whenever she watched Arthur’s antics, or Mr. Hankins' clumsy courtship of Mrs. Griffiths- but there was something particular when she looked at Charlotte of late.  It was sadder than sympathy and tenderer than pity, but given the way things had fallen out Charlotte was not sure what else it could be.Charlotte and Georgiana take a walk.
Relationships: Charlotte Heywood/Georgiana Lambe
Kudos: 5
Collections: The 100 Multifandom Challenge





	Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> Just finished watching the show and wanted to get something out before the end of February. Maybe Georgiana will let me join the Sidney Parker hate squad of which she is captain. Fills my 100fandoms table prompt #82 (time).

Miss Lambe was good enough not to remind Charlotte that she had warned her, but Charlotte felt something she imagined to be reproach in the intense way Georgiana’s eyes followed her after Sidney Parker’s engagement began to be public knowledge. 

Were she not herself so despondent, Charlotte would have been pleased by the way Georgiana had rallied of late. They took walks by the shore together nearly every day.

“I could almost wish myself jilted earlier,” Charlotte said one particularly fine afternoon, when Georgiana’s arm was snug in hers and she felt the urge to try carelessness for a while. It was a dress that didn’t- couldn’t- quite fit, but she was beginning to hope she might grow into it someday. “Only I will miss it here.” 

It was Georgiana she had first expressed her desire to go home to, and soon the whole business had been arranged quite in spite of her. “It’s all right,” Georgiana said now, patting her hand. “Soon I’ll come into my inheritance, and when I can choose my own companion I'll send for you. Then we can go anywhere. Or nowhere.”

“Oh, I would like that,” Charlotte said.

Georgiana’s smiles were rarer than they once were, and they had never been too common, but they had an extraordinary power to clear away Charlotte’s melancholy nevertheless. Her smiles were not only for Charlotte, of course- they pulled reluctantly at her lips whenever she watched Arthur’s antics, or Mr. Hankins' clumsy courtship of Mrs. Griffiths- but there was something particular when she looked at Charlotte of late. It was sadder than sympathy and tenderer than pity, but given the way things had fallen out Charlotte was not sure what else it could be. Georgiana was her dear friend, but Charlotte sometimes thought that dear friends did not look at each other in that way. 

She brought it up at last. “I do thank you.” Georgiana’s head titled curiously and Charlotte pressed on: “For not saying that you warned me.”

Georgiana squeezed her hand, features contorting faintly. “I take no pleasure in being right, I assure you.”

There was, however, the tiniest note of uncertainty in her voice- as if, perhaps, she could not entirely claim that she would be just as happy if Charlotte was engaged to Mr. Parker right now. But Charlotte was no stranger to ambivalence. She knew that Sidney Parker, happy, was not something Georgiana had ever wished to see. Though Charlotte could not find it in herself to resent him, she was not sure she truly wished him well either. And even if Georgiana only felt a whisper of perverse gladness that they could both be heartbroken together, Charlotte did not blame her. But was there truly no hope? 

“Do you think of Mr. Molyneux often?” she asked carefully. She had already marred the day and made Georgiana turn so dreadfully serious. It was just as well to ask the question at last, when it had been worrying at her for such a long time. 

“I think of him. But perhaps not often. I miss what could have been, or what I thought could be. I hope he finds happiness, as I hope I do.” 

Charlotte smiled. “Then perhaps you will find someone else you wish to marry one day.” Perhaps they both would. 

“It is distinctly possible that he was the only man I will ever love,” Georgiana said. She sounded calm, warm as the sun on Charlotte’s face, not in the least bitter or downhearted. Charlotte was not sure how that could be.

“I don’t-” she struggled a moment- “I don’t understand you.”

Georgiana smiled that strange new smile again. A curl of Charlotte’s hair had escaped her bonnet and Georgiana pushed carefully it back. “I hope in time you will. All things come with time, I think.”

Charlotte only nodded, helpless. Though Georgiana seemed to brush her sadness away as easily as she had brushed away that curl, it was still there, like a living thing in her chest. But she too had hope for the future. 

All things come with time indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [dreamwidth](https://potentiality-26.dreamwidth.org).


End file.
